This is one of the best books I've read in a long time! Some uncomfortable discussion, and much insight. It puts into context professional developments that I was aware of, but hadn't put it all together. Smart, incisive, very readable. press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

We Have Never Been Woke

How a new “woke” elite uses the language of social justice to gain more power and status—without helping the marginalized and disadvantaged

press.princeton.edu

A senior archaeo mate sent this to me, dont know the source/artist to credit, but it's strangley accurate...

After a long delay, my paper on ancient urban resilience is finally out: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

New blog post, about why it is NOT a good idea to support a new predatory journal in archaeology. publishingarchaeology.blogspot.com/2026/07/just...

Publishing Archaeology

Just What we DON’T Need: A New Predatory Journal in Archaeology I just got a notice about a new predatory journal, “ Archaeological Stud...

publishingarchaeology.blogspot.com

1st look: A new archaeology journal! Yay! Closer look: Hmmm, it’s MDPI. New look: A new PREDATORY archaeology journal. Boo! www.mdpi.com/journal/arch...

Kino wondering why folks put so much effort last night into making big noises that didn’t bother him at all. This lab is the most chill doggo we have ever had.

In addition to hundreds of small-scale items linked to smuggling schemes, investigators have seized 120 objects worth between $20,000 and $26 million from The Met’s holdings since 2017.

Value of Looted Objects at Met Museum Tops $95M After New Seizures

Several ancient sculptures and vessels acquired between 1971 and 2001 were among the objects extracted from The Met's collection this June.

hyperallergic.com

An open letter, to readers, about Charity and Sylvia. I am very pained to feel the need to write this. #queerhistory #pride

If you care about climate science, here's a great new site to bookmark:

Former NOAA Employees Revive Climate Site Shut by Trump Administration

nytimes.com

Publishing Archaeology: How to give a bad conference talk! publishingarchaeology.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-to…. (from 2011)

Very strange; the journal Reviews in Anthropology has now published two (count ‘em, 2) low-quality reviews of Graeber and Wengrow, The Dawn of Everything. They published a superficial review article in 2022, and now they have published a 3-page description of the book (called ... 1/2

Rest Well, Raul Pacheco-Vega Our community lost the inimitable Raúl Pacheco-Vega this week. Someone who knew him better than me should write a more definitive remembrance and maybe they have in some other corner of the internet. But, I haven’t seen a longer treatment yet (here is a terrific one!),…

Rest Well, Raul Pacheco-Vega

Our community lost the inimitable Raúl Pacheco-Vega this week. Someone who knew him better than me should write a more definitive remembrance and maybe they have in some other corner of the internet. But, I haven’t seen a longer treatment yet (here is a terrific one!), so I thought I’d have a go at a remembrance. Raúl lived his life…

duckofminerva.com

Wow, Willian Frej's photo book (Unforgotten: Ancient cities from a distant past) has won another book award! www.forewordreviews.com/awards/books... Email me if you want a pdf of my chapter, "Late Lessons from Early Cities." He is an incredible photographer, and this was a fun project for me

I was diagnosed with cancer 10 weeks ago (diffuse large B-cell lymphoma non-Hodgkins, in my abdomen). I have had 3 rounds of chemotherapy at Mayo Clinic. Here I am at the start of treatment (I still had my hair then). A PET scan yesterday shows that the chemo is working; 1/2

Kino likes the megalithic bench.

I’m a climate scientist. Let me fix this headline. “Nearly a century ago, scientists showed that burning fossil fuels warms the planet. Today, we know human emissions account for over 100% of the warming. Yet dark money and disinformation still work to keep Americans addicted to fossil fuels.”

Forbes@forbes.com · 2mo ago

Scientists have reached a consensus that human behavior is a big driver of climate change—but Americans aren't buying it.

“Please stop. I don’t want an AI summary of my Google search. I don’t want an AI summary of the text message from my friend at work. I don’t want an AI summary of the email I’m about to read. Please just stop.” 💯

A few cactus flowers are out this morning. I can’t get videos to post to Bsky, so I can’t show the bees at work. These spectacular flowers bloom in the middle of the night, and by mid-morning they are gone. The bees don’t seem to find them before dawn.

When assembling your dog, please make sure that you follow the instructions carefully.

ASU professor (me), former research lab director retires after 20 years news.asu.edu/b/20260519-a... Well, its 43 years of teaching: Loyola University of Chicago, then SUNY-Albany, and finally, ASU.

It is publication day for The Organism-Environment Pairing (@mitpress.bsky.social)! This 📗 has been deeply formative for me as a scholar, and it owes so much to so many wonderful people. I truly hope it finds many readers! mitpress.mit.edu/978026205282... #booksky #philsci #histsci #philsky #evosky

Rooting for Mike Smith on So Happy

I’m eating peanuts and reading a senior honors thesis on the patio, listening to Bach partitas (keyboard), and Keno is keeping the yard free of cats.

This is a FRAUDULENT paper, AI-generated. My name was used as an author and I had nothing to do with it, never saw it until today e-pubmed.co.uk/journals/dig... The "Editors" Angelo Rossi Mori, David Mensah, and Zarnie Khadjesari and this "Journal" should be reported.

Congratulations to @stephenking.bsky.social for this well-deserved honor!👍 (Novels/Novellas: Approximately 65 to 67 Non-fiction books: 5 books. Short Stories: Over 200 Pseudonyms: 7 novels were published as Richard Bachman. Frequency: He has published at least one book almost every year since 1974)

Forty-seven years ago, Cindy and I were newlyweds excavating at Copan, Honduras (central Mexicanist grad students, slumming in Mayaland). During Semana Santa we took a trip to Tikal (Guatemala), and tonight our tickets from April 10, 1979 fell out of one of my books on Tikal (writing a paper).

The bird is sometimes shown on a warrior shield. Colonial documents say that the dynasty of Calixtlahuaca was called chimalli, which is the Nahuatl word for shield. They also say the Spanish friars forcibly moved the population of Calixtlahuaca into Toluca to provide labor to build a church.

Michael E Smith@michaelesmith.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Some images of the Calixtlahuaca bird. The city was originally called Matlatzinco, but the conquering Mexica gave it the name Calixtlahuaca. The bird may signal the name of the ruling dynasty.

Illini Breakfast Club. Go Illinois!

Wet Kino.